|
Penney's Store, in the Mason City Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa (August 11, 1936), page 9. I thought it was a bit unusual to have ads for boys' and girls' school clothes as early as the August 11. But the ad says "Mothers! Choose what your Boy or Girl will need for School, EARlY, when the stocks are new. Only 28 Days til School". Indicative of the Great Depression, Penney's offers even relatively inexpensive items on its "Penney's Lay-Away Plan." One of the most prominent items on a page too complicated to reproduce entirely (page 9 of the Mason City Globe Gazette) were supporters for long stockings.
Penny's came to have a major catalog business, but in the 1930s it was primarily a chain store. JC Penney was founded by James Cash Penney. He called his first stores Golden Rule Store. He opened the first one in 1902. It was located in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The company grew to be one of the most important retailer in America. Penny had a major impact on American retailing. Merchants in the19th century did not commonly stand behind their merchandise. Penney called his store, the Golden Rule Store to emphasize his approach to retailing. He offered innovations such as money-back returns, standardized pricing, high quality merchandise, and friendly customer service. These were approached that were not very common at the time. Penney began with stores, but eventually began catalog sales, competing with Montgomery Ward and Sears. Penny now offers American consumers three different shopping channels (stores, catalogs, and internet channels). JC Penney in 2003 operated 1,050 JCPenney department stores in all the U.S. states (except Hawaii) and in Puerto Rico. In addition Penney operates 50 Renner department stores in Brazil.
Newspaper and magazine advertisments like mail order catalogs are very useful fashion items because they are dates. This is something that available photographs are often not. Thus these ads are very helpful in devekoping information on chronological fashion trends. They also provide information on conventioins, ages, gender, material, color, and other topics associated with clothing asnd fashion. Penney's Store, in the Mason City Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa (August 11, 1936), page 9. I thought it was a bit unusual to have ads for boys' and girls' school clothes as early as the August 11. But the ad says "Mothers! Choose what your Boy or Girl will need for School, EARlY, when the stocks are new. Only 28 Days til School". Indicative of the Great Depression, Penney's offers even relatively inexpensive items on its "Penney's Lay-Away Plan."
This category includes round garters worn to hold up knee socks and hose supporters with button-and-loop clasps (for the tops of stockings) worn to support long stockings and suspended from some form of a waist or from another underwear garment. Garter (or gartier) is of historic origin. The word appears to have entered the English language from Old North French in the early 14th century. The word was derived from the French word describing the bend of the knee. It came to be the symbol for an English knightly order--the Order of the Garter. This kind of garter was worn around the leg just below the knee. Garters were worn by both children and adults. There are two basic types. One was an elastic band worn around the leg. This type was commonly used by children to hold us kneesocks. Scouts were noted for adding a colored tab to the round garter. This type of garter was commonly used before kneesocks with elasticised tops became popular. The round garter was also sometimes worn above the knee for holding up long stockings, but this was discouraged by doctors and health specialists because it restricted circulation, and hose supporters were recommended instead. The other type of garter was the hose supporter (or in England "suspender")--an elastic strap suspended from an undergarment. Supporters were worn by both girls and boys to hold up long stockings.
This category applies to a broad variety of devices for holding up long stockings. Theoretically it would apply to any garment worn on the upper body used for this purpose (including underwaists, pantywaists, and suspender waists). But HBC uses the term to apply specifically to waists with hose supporters already attached, even though in some cases these supporters are detachable. Most of these garments are designed to have the strain of the garters carried by the child’s shoulders. Some have waistbands and some do not, but all are worn under the outer clothing and therefore as a species of children’s underwear. One of the first such garments we notice was in the Sears 1902 catalog Sears refers to a "combination belt and supporter, but the garment was essentially a garter waist. The use of different terms somewhat complicates the assessment if the garments. Interestingly, even when the wearing of long stockings was supposedly declining in the late 1930s and early 1940s, a proliferation of styles of garter waist became very prominent in the Sears and Wards catalogs of this period. We have more different styles for this period than for any other on HBC.
Penny's offered both waist and hose supporters and pin-on garters. The text for the waist and hose supporters read, "Waist and Hose Supporters" 43 cents. Children's comfortable shoulder supporrters with mercerized sateen belt and garters on safety pin loops." The ad copy for the pin-on garters, "Children's Pin-on Garters 10 cents a pair. 7/8 inch wide elastic
supporters with metal trimmings and rubber buttons. Black or white. Assorted sizes."
No ages ranges for these items is given in the ad, but the Dr. Parker
style waist with belt and detachable supporters (shown in the
illustration) was made in sizes from 2 to 14. School children, both
boys and girls, wore long stockings in the chillier months, especially
in Iowa, from about age 6 to 12 or 13 in 1936. They were worn by both
boys and girls. Some boys wore long stockings with short trousers and
others wore them underneath knickers. Notice that the garters are also
sold separately so they could be pinned onto underwaists or else worn
with the belt and suspender straps illustrated in the picture to the
left, which allows the supporters to be detached by unfastening the
safety pins. Some boys as old as 14 may have worn long stockings with
supporters under their knickers in high school, but I suspect that long
stockings for high schoolers during the 1930s in the Middle West were
mainly worn by girls rather than boys. Of course the same waists and
garters were worn by both genders and we know from various sources that
boys, especially older boys, preferred garter waists to underwaists if
their mothers required them to wear full-length, over-the-knee
stockings.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing catalog/magazine pages:
[Return to the Main 1936 stocking supporter garment page]
[Return to the Main American mail order 1930s page]
[Main photo/publishing page]
[Store catalogs]
[Fashion magazines]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Main U.S. page]
[Main U.S. 1930s page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Cloth and textiles]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits]
[Sailor hats]
[Buster Brown suits]
[Knickers]
[Short pants]
[Eton suits]
[Rompers]
[Tunics]
[Smocks]
[Tights]
[Long stockings]
[Stocking supporters]
[Underwear]
